are moving relatively slowly or stationary, and so the radar will simply filter them out. the wider you make those kind of velocity gates in terms of what the radar is looking at and what it s disregarding, the more clutter you ll have to deal with, and so the better processing you ll require in order to get usable results for military purposes. what s happened since the chinese spy balloon incident in the us is that the us appear to have reprogrammed a lot of their surveillance radars for air defence purposes with much, much wider velocity gates. so, they re suddenly seeing a lot of sort of floating objects, of which there are many that are not spy balloons. you know, weather balloons, research balloons, just hobbyists putting cameras up on high altitude balloons. but they just weren t seeing those before, and so now, having opened up the velocity gate, they re now having to try and classify and potentially intercept a lot more things that they just
and concerns about this, but there is no, again, no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns. maybe this is the point to address the ufo issue. they exist. they re actually called unidentified aerial phenomena now, and there are hundreds of reports from us pilots about them which get catalogued. they get investigated, not so much because they might be extraterrestrials or aliens, but because the us fears they might be some new technology from another country. and many of those reports may, in fact, have been balloons or similar objects. it s now emerged that the other three unidentified objects shot down between february 10th and 12th were all, to use the jargon, benign. in other words, perhaps weather balloons or research balloons, but not spy balloons. so, what do we know about the original spy balloon? it was huge 200 feet tall and helium filled. there were solar panels to provide power and sensors and instruments along the bottom.
much wider velocity gates. so, they re suddenly seeing a lot of sort of floating objects, of which there are many that are not spy balloons. you know, weather balloons, research balloons, just hobbyists putting cameras up on high altitude balloons. but they just weren t seeing those before. and so now, having opened up the velocity gate, they re now having to try and classify and potentially intercept a lot more things that they just weren t noticing before. make no mistake, if any object presents a threat to the safety and security of the american people, i will take it down. well, i think we need to focus on the real issue here, which is the impact all of this has had on an already fragile and fraught us china relationship. i mean, the united states has long had this sense of inviolability. they haven t had to fight on their own territory since the end of the us civil war.
it s now emerged that the other three unidentified objects shot down between february 10 12 were all, to use the jargon, benign. in other words, perhaps weather balloons or research balloons, but not spy balloons. so, what do we know about the original spy balloon? it was huge 200 feet tall and helium filled. there were solar panels to provide power, and sensors and instruments along the bottom. it also had some ability to be manoeuvred and guided, although only limited. it was flying at about 60,000 feet. but it s thought that these kinds of balloons can go up to twice that altitude. and to really understand why they re so useful to china, we need to look at a weather map. wind speeds vary hugely depending on how high up you are. and at the altitude where this balloon was flying, there is a very stable and predictable wind pattern between china and north america. so, what are the balloons actually being used for?
spy balloon incident in the us is that the us appear to have reprogrammed a lot of their surveillance radars for air defence purposes with much, much wider velocity gates. so they re suddenly seeing a lot of sort of floating objects, of which there are many that are not spy balloons. you know, weather balloons, research balloons, just hobbyists putting cameras up on high altitude balloons. but they just weren t seeing those before. and so now, having opened up the velocity gate, they re now having to try and classify and potentially intercept a lot more things that they just weren t noticing before. make no mistake, if any object presents a threat to the safety and security of the american people, i will take it down. well, i think we need to focus on the real issue here, which is the impact all of this has had on an already fragile and fraught us china relationship.